Motor driven web material dispenser



e 1969 J. L. WILLIAMS 3,450,363

MOTOR DRIVEN WEB MATERIAL DISPENSER Filed Feb. 15, 1968 INVENTOR JAMES L. WILLIAMS ATTORNEYS:

United States Patent MOTOR DRIVEN WEB MATERIAL DISPENSER James L. Williams, Massillon, Ohio, assignor, by mesne assignments, to Navarre Products, Inc., North Lawrence, Ohio, a corporation of Ohio Filed Feb. 15, 1968, Ser. No. 705,649 Int. Cl. B65h 19/00 U.S. C]. 2422-5553 7 Claims ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE A dispenser for web material in roll form in which the roll is mounted on a motor driven shaft within a housing having a discharge slot therein. The outer convolution of material passes into the slot and the adjacent convolution of material passes over a spacer bar resulting in a planar portion of web travel alongside of the outer convolution which is positively driven by its frictional contact with the adjacent convolution.

This invention relates to new and useful improvements in motor driven web material dispensing apparatus and more particularly, to a built-in motor driven dispenser for sheet material in roll form such as conventional toilet tissue, paper towels, or the like, which may easily be installed in an existing wall.

This application represents improvements in the constructions shown in Patent Nos. 3,167,367 and 3,167,368 in which I was a co'inventor.

Prior to the patents noted above, many mechanical dispensers of the hand operated type had been suggested for the unrollin-g and dispensing of various sheet or web materials such as paper towels, waxed paper, tape, tickets and the like. These devices were generally cumbersome and expensive to build and did not generally present a neat and unobtrusive appearance when installed. The motor driven sheet material dispensers represented by my earlier patents, while overcoming some of the problems of the prior art, necessitated a relatively large number of mechanical elements and were on occasion subject to breakdown. The present invention overcomes the deficiencies in the prior art.

It is an object of the present invention to provide a web material dispenser that is operated by an electric motor actuated by slight pressure on the outer cover of the dispenser casing.

Another important object of the present invention is to provide an electric tissue dispenser which may be housed entirely within a room wall and which provides for storage of an additional supply of tissue.

A further object of the present invention is to provide an electric tissue dispenser which presents a trim, neat unobtrusive appearance.

A further object of this invention is to provide a toilet tissue dispenser driven by an electric motor which may be installed in an existing wall and wherein the cover of the dispenser may be opened readily for refilling the paper supply or maintainance of the motor, gears, or drive mechanism.

A still further object of the invention is to provide a motor driven dispenser for relatively fragile tissue or the like in roll form wherein the tissue is positively driven by frictional engagement of the outer convolution with the convolution immediately therebeneath.

Another object of the present invention is the provision of a motor driven tissue dispensing assembly especially designed for perforated sheet material which will permit manual pulling of the material without tearing of the same intermediate two lines of perforation.

A further object of the invention is to provide a motor Patented June 17, 1969 'ice .material from a roll by means of friction between adjacent convolutions of the material.

Yet another object of this invention is to provide a motor driven dispensing device for relatively fragile sheet material in roll form incorporating means to separate the outer convolution of the material from the layer immediately therebeneath and guide the material to an outlet opening in the dispenser.

Other objects of the invention are to provide a motor operated sheet material dispenser bearing the above objects in mind which is of relatively simple construction, has a minimum number of parts, is inexpensive to manufacture, and is at all times eflicient, reliable and safe in operation.

For other objects and for a better understanding of the invention reference may be had to the following detailed description taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawing in which:

FIGURE 1 is a perspective view of the new web material dispenser installed in a tiled bathroom wall;

FIGURE 2 is a front elevation of the dispenser with the front cover open and shown in section;

FIGURE 3 is a cross sectional view taken along the lines 33 of FIGURE 2; and

FIGURE 4 is a fragmentary cross sectional view of the switch and actuator portion of FIGURE 3 during application of pressure upon the cover.

Reference is now made more specifically to the drawings wherein like numerals designate similar parts throughout the several views and wherein the dispensing device constituting the subject matter of this invention is designated generally at 10 and is shown tflllSh mounted in the usual tiled bathroom wall 11. The dispensing device comprises a casing or housing 12 preferably fabricated from sheet metal, although plastics, wood, or other suitable material may be used. Housing 12 is of general box configuration and is open at its front end. The housing includes a rear wall 13, top and bottom walls 14 and 15 and side walls. The front edge portions of each of the walls are turned back to provide mounting flanges 16. The flanges 16 enable the housing to be securely mounted in a wall recess in a neat fashion regardless of the accuracy of the wall cut.

The front of the housing is normally closed by a sheet metal cover 17 pivotally mounted adjacent its bottom edge as described in greater detail hereinafter. The cover is generally boxshaped and has inturned portions defining a top 18 and sides 19 and 20. The lower edge is not inturned and, therefore, the bottom of the cover is open as shown at 21 defining a sheet material dispensing slot. A combination pivot and separator bar 22 is welded or otherwise rigidly secured across the bottom portion of the cover and is attached to the side walls 19 and 20 thereof as shown in FIGURES 2 and 3. A switch actuator bracket 23 is attached to the inside face of the front cover 17 in the upper right hand portion thereof and has a switch contacting projection 24 mounted thereon adapted when the cover is raised to contact the motor actuator switch later described.

As will be noted in FIGURES 3 and 4, when the cover is raised into closed position, the top wall 18 thereof 3 makes frictional contact with the inner surface of the cabinet top wall 14. A certain amount of telescopic inward movement of the cover is possible, however, stop means 25, which may be in the form of pins or the like mounted inside the top of the cabinet cover 14 serve to limit inward movement of the cover.

Side sheet metal extension members are secured to the inner side walls of the casing 12 and extend slightly outwardly of the front surface thereof. These extensions are inturned to provide bearing sleeve mounting faces 31 and 32 as shown in FIGURE 2. U-shaped bearing sleeves 33 and 34 are welded or otherwise secured upon the faces 31 and 32 and receive the pivot and separator bar of the front cover therethrough. As can be seen, this assembly provides a secure pivotal mounting for the front cover 17 and when the cover is opened by downward movement, the entire assembly pivots about the axis of the pivot and separator bar 22 until such time as the lower edge of the cover abuts against the lower surfaces of the extensions 30, which serve as limit stops. It will be understood that sufficient clearance is provided between the extensions 30 and the side walls of the housing 12 so that when the front cover 17 is swung upwardly into closed position, the sides 19 and 20 thereof will be partially received within the side walls and top wall of the housing.

A motor sub-housing is secured within the cabinet 12 and adjacent one of the inner side walls thereof. The sub-housing contains a conventional geared drive means comprising a motor and gear train (not shown). It will be understood that the gear train is of the reduction type so that the motor speed is reduced. A source of electrical energy is supplied into the motor housing by means of electrical cable 41 which enters the top wall 14 of housing 12 through a grommet 42. The circuit to the motor is interrupted by a spring-biased push button switch 43 mounted on the front of the motor sub-housing 40; which switch is normally in the open position, but is adapted to be closed upon pressure applied thereto by means of the switch contacting projection 24 described supra.

The final gear of the reduction gear assembly within the motor sub-housing 40 is secured to a stub shaft 44 which extends outwardly of the sub-housing 12. Shaft 44 is of such a length as to be received within the conventional core of a tissue roll.

Spaced rubber mounting discs 45 provided with a central bore are slidably mounted along the shaft 44 and provide positive means for frictionally driving a roll of material received thereon. Discs 45 are made of generally soft rubber or the like and are sufliciently resilient so that they are normally of a diameter somewhat larger than the internal core diameter of a conventional tissue roll. The discs 45 are retained upon the shaft 44 by means of metal spacers 46 which are secured to shaft 44 by means of set screws 47. A roll of material R may be placed on the shaft by insertion over the end of the relatively flexible and resilient discs 45. It will be understood that rotation of shaft 44 through the reduction drive gearing will be transmitted due to the frictional contact of the discs 45 with the internal surface of the roll core directly to the roll of material R.

In the preferred form of the invention shown in FIG- URES 1 and 2, the housing or cabinet 12 is made of sufiicient length to provide storage space on the left side thereof for a spare roll of tissue S. Sufficient room is provided so that the spare roll does not interfere with rotation of the feed roll R.

In use, the roll of material R is placed on the stub shaft 44 slightly compressing discs 45 and one convolution of the material 50 is passed underneath the separator bar 22 and then over the material supply roll again and then downwardly through the dispensing slot 21. With this arrangement the portion of the web material passing to the exit or dispensing slot, will be in frictional contact with the convolution immediately therebeneath thoughout its entire range of travel until such time as it actually leaves the cabinet through the dispensing slot 21. The separator bar 22 enables the second convolution to be carried into contact with the top convolution until the exit point at which time convolution 50 returns to the supply roll.

It will be appreciated that with the present invention positive drive of the dispensing tissue is conveyed by the tissue immediately therebeneath, this eliminates considerable amount of mechanical structure necessary in the prior art.

Once the dispenser is loaded and the cover closed, the switch contacting projection 24 will be in slight contact with push button 43, but not sufilcient to close the circuit to the motor. At this point the cover will be frictionally received within the side walls of the housing 12. Slight pressure upon the upper portion of cover 17 will press the button 43 further and thereby close the circuit to the motor turning the stub shaft 44 in an unwinding direction. The stops 25 will prevent excessive inward movement of the cover 17. The tissue will then feed out of the unit as at 51 due to its frictional contact with the second layer of tissue from the roll to the separator bar 22. The layer 51 will not follow the second layer around the separator bar due to the relatively sharp degree bend at this point and also due to the slight weight of the tissue. Release of pressure on the cover 17 will cause immediate stoppage of the material feed and there will be no overrun as is possible with prior art devices. Application of pulling pressure manually in a sideward motion at the bottom of the cover will cause separation of the tissue on the nearest perforation, which will in most cases be within the housing. Application of such pressure on the tissue will not cause further unrolling due to the frictional restraint caused by the convolutions of the material on the roll and by the drag of the gear train and motor. Actually, application of such pressure merely causes additional frictional contact and overrun is not possible.

It is believed that the frictional contact between the layers of material which serves to drive the tissue out of the dispenser is attributable to the natural physical structure of the paper. The fibers of the tissue from the outer layer 51 will become minutely entangled with the fibers of the tissue from the layer 50*.

It is anticipated that the construction herein described may be useful in all applications wherein web material is to be dispensed and especially perforated materials such as paper towels, toilet tissue, wrapping tissue, napkins, etc.

While I have shown and described a preferred embodiment of the invention, it is to be understood that the drawings and detailed disclosure are to be construed in an illustartive rather than a limiting sense since various modifications and substitutions of equivalents may be made by those skilled in the art within the spirit and scope of the invention as defined in the appended claims.

What I claim as my invention and desire to protect by Letters Patent of the United States is:

1. A dispenser for web material in roll form comprising a housing, rotatable support means for said roll of material within said housing, motor means in said housing in driving relationship to said support means, a dispensing opening in said housing the outer convolution of said material extending tangentially of said roll into said opening and separator bar means mounted in said housing parallel to said support means and spaced radically outwardly of said roll over which a convolution of material adjacent the outer convolution passes resulting in a planar portion of web material travel alongside of the outer convolution so that the outer convolution is frictionally driven toward said opening.

2. A dispenser as defined in claim 1, wherein said support means comprises a stub shaft and wherein said motor means comprises an electric motor and gear train, said stub shaft being connected to the output of said gear train.

3. A dispenser as defined in claim 2, wherein said stub shaft is provided with a plurality of spaced resilient circular discs secured thereto adapted to frictionally receive a roll core.

4. A dispenser as defined in claim 1 and further including a cover defining one face of said housing, said cover being pivotally mounted on said housing.

5-. A dispenser as defined in claim 4, wherein said separator bar is secured to the cover and serves as a portion of the pivotal mounting thereof.

6. A dispenser as defined in claim 1, wherein said housing includes a storage area for a spare supply of web material.

7. A dispenser as defined in claim 1, wherein said motor means comprises an electric motor, said motor being connected to a source of electrical energy, a normally open switch means interposed between said motor and said source, said housing being open on one face thereof,

a cover pivotally mounted on said housing and normally closing said open face thereof, and switch actuator means on said cover adapted to close said switch means upon manual pressure on said cover.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 3,167,367 1/1965 Rozlog et a]. 312 39 3,297,269 1/1967 McGrew 242-5553 3,347,480 10/1967 Abramoff 242-552 3,367,593 2/1968 Grant 242-5513 FOREIGN PATENTS 1,365,349 5/1964 France.

LEONARD D. CHRISTIAN, Primary Examiner. 

